


my friend.

by j_whirl44



Series: Azu Week 2020 [1]
Category: Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)
Genre: Brief mention of recreational drug use, Gen, monster!cel bc i said so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:15:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26814238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/j_whirl44/pseuds/j_whirl44
Summary: trust is built on strong foundations.Azu Week - Day 1: Armor/Heart
Relationships: Azu & Celiquilliton "Cel" Sidebottom
Series: Azu Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1961188
Comments: 16
Kudos: 25
Collections: Azu Week 2020





	my friend.

Azu’s favorite thing about herself is her strength. She likes that she’s big and she likes that in a pinch she can tower over others and help protect those that need it. All those day spent tending to the fields on her family farm mixed with the countless little wrestling matches she’d have with Emeka in their yard built her up like a tower. In quiet and restless moments she takes comfort in how big she is and it’s a fear of hers, irrational or not, that one day it’ll just be gone.

So that’s probably why she takes the mega juice. So she can have something that keeps that strength intact, no matter how over the top it is. All she remembers, though, is the liquid hitting her tongue and then her world turned black.

She comes to with a pillow under her head and an assortment of wood and glass littered around her. Cel’s sitting cross legged across from her and smiling that big crooked smile like they always do.

She sits up and shakes her head. She thankfully appears to have no headache, though she really thinks she should, but her head is still foggy as she inspects the damage with a grimace on her face.

Cel fills her in on what happened. Explains in detail her apparent rant about the types of chairs she liked and all the memories she’s had with chairs both good and bad. Cel’s giggling through this whole account and Azu is mortified but she’s thankful not to have injured them in any way.

“How long did this go on?” she asks.

“Oh about three minutes or so I think,” Cel answers.

“Oh…” Azu says, awkwardly fiddling with her hands. 

She does her best to clean up around them both and at the very least arranges the damage into neater piles before they exit the room together.

“Are you sure I didn’t hurt you, Cel,” she asks sheepishly. They turn to her and give a smile while grabbing one of her wrists to stop them from walking further down the hall.

“Azu, honey, I promise you didn’t. You...you were good. You used all your extra strength on the furniture,” they laugh, Azu follows along with a small nervous one of her own, “they didn’t stand a chance,” Cel teases with a wink that provokes a genuine laugh from Azu now.

They continue to walk down the hall. It takes them having to finally check out of the hotel before she stops feeling completely embarrassed, and she thinks that was a good enough experiment to not take mega juice again for a long time. Cel promises that they can make a better batch anyway.

-_-_-_-_-

It was an ambush no one expected. It might’ve been a scouting error or just a general misknowledge of what to expect on the illusive land of Svalbard, but the beasts that came out of the darkness of the woods were ferocious and angry. Things bigger than wolves with fangs protruding well out of their mouth rushed the party.

Zolf was hit first when one lunged at his shoulder and dug in. He screamed, which alerted everyone else who went into battle formation quickly. Hamid’s hands glowed red which cast a light on his face as Cel readied their crossbow. Azu held her axe tight in her hands.

They were surrounded quicker than they knew what to deal with and it was hard to see even with her darkvision, the white coats of whatever were attacking blended them in dangerously close to the snow, a lifetime to adapt here gave whatever they were an advantage. She could only hear the sounds of their snarls as they stalked closer. She closes her eyes and calls to Aphrodite.

Before her goddess could respond however she heard the sound of bones cracking and changing as well as the deep crackle of a snarl coming from beside her. She turns to see Cel throwing aside a now empty flask as they continue to grow. They try to get everyone to stand back as Azu sees the beginnings of the back of their shirt ripping and out came wings.

The initial shock wears off quick as Cel lets out a terrifying scream that shakes the three of them and they share a look. The beasts seem to halt their approach as well as Cel’s wings flap wickedly around them.

Azu’s just able to catch one of them approaching her and she snaps out of her awe just long enough to swipe at it with her axe. It hits them just in time and there's the familiar sound of a slice of metal on skin as she hears a whimper and a thud to the ground.  
  
One down.

This seems to snap the others back to the present as well as they assume their positions again but Cel is already off. They rush towards the herd and just start swiping with their clawed hands now. The unmistakable sounds of death and whimpers and shuffling paws in snow fill the air along with Cel’s grunts and screams. The three of them stand there paralyzed and share a look as they all watch.

The beasts are no match for Cel in this form as they single handedly lay them away in a matter of what feels like seconds. The air is still except for the deep grunts their making and Azu watches the wings on their back move up and down with the notion.

Zolf takes a step forward and Cel immediately turns to him with wild eyes and fangs on both the bottom and top of their mouth are on full display. He shines his glavie towards their face to get a closer look but that seems to spook them and they puff up and let their wings grow to their full extent. They look between the three of them with shifting eyes and they look like they’re about to strike. With a gulp Azu and the rest of them gets into a fighting stance.

That makes something shift in their face. A recognition sparks in their eyes that wasn’t there before and they shake their head viciously before they run off. They nearly clip Azu as they run past but she’s able to dodge it. They stomp off somewhere into the trees and all that’s left behind is the smell of blood surrounding the three of them.

It’s been hours now and Cel is nowhere to be found. They all made work on getting rid of the mutilated bodies before they made a fire and now they sit huddled around it. Azu reaches her hands out and lets the warmth of the fire take over them. Hamid is leaning beside her and dozing off. Zolf sits and is quietly staring into the flames.  
  
She takes a minute or more to collect herself and then she makes a decision. She begins to move and gently lays Hamid on his back as she stands up. She looks off towards where she knows she saw Cel run and walks towards it.

“Azu? Azu where are you going,” she hears Zolf call out, careful not to wake Hamid.

“I’m going to find them. They shouldn’t be alone,” she states so matter-of-factly it seems to surprise him.

Zolf gets up and takes a step towards her, “No-what you. They’re...Cel is…” he begins to say but he stops and looks towards the ground with a half angry, half sad look. 

Azu takes a step towards him, “They’re still Cel, Zolf,” she says.

He lets out a small sarcastic laugh but when he looks up at her he’s smiling. He nods, “just be careful, I...good luck, yeah?” he says.

She just nods in response before heading out again.

It takes no time to find them. The manner they ran off left heavy footprints in the snow that Azu uses as a guide. It’s very cold and very dark but she tries to not think about it. That’s not what’s important right now.

Cel’s curled up under a dead tree. They have their legs up towards their chest. They’re scrapping the bark over and over with their still clawed hands. She takes a step forward and pauses as a branch snaps under her foot. Cel turns and snarls for a moment but quickly shows their confusion when they see Azu.

A closer look shows that they seem to be in the stages of coming down from whatever potion they took to make them this way. Cel looks at Azu for another moment before they turn their head away and shield themselves from her with their wings. They’re in a cocoon of their own design. Azu doesn’t stop walking towards them.

She looms over them and looks at Cel with a smile, “Hi, Cel,” she says softly.

They poke their head out but don't say anything.

Azu hesitates a moment before sitting across from them and settling into the snow. Cel tightens their shrinking wings around themselves.

They don’t talk for a while, but Azu keeps her eyes trained on them. They watch as the features that were so sharp before now begin to soften again and their skin returns to normal.

“Are...is everyone okay,” Cel asks. Their voice is still distorted and not what Azu is used to but she doesn’t make a conscious note of that.

She instead nods with an encouraging smile, “Everyone is fine Cel. Thanks to you,” she says.

Cel bristles at that, “I coulda...coulda hurt you guys. I-I panicked. I shouldn’t have done that. I should’ve given a better warning that I  _ was _ going to do that. I was stupid I wasn’t thinking-” Cel rambles.

She stops them as she leans forward and grabs one of Cel’s wrists. Their nails are still a little too sharp and they dig into the top of Azu’s hand. She doesn’t flinch. “You didn’t hurt any of us Cel, I promise, We’re all worried about you,” she explains. She rubs a thumb along where it rests on their wrist. Cel continues to shrink back to normal under her watchful eye.

“I could have though, Azu, that could have ended badly. It-it has before and my companions weren’t as lucky and I promised that-”

“Cel,” Azu says softly to keep them from spiraling even further. Cel looks at her for the first time since she sat down. Azu leans in closer and now wraps Cel into a hug in spite of their slight whine of objection.

They two stay embraced for a while. Enough that Azu feels the wings fall back and away from Cel’s skin. There’s two fresh holes in Cel’s jacket but it’s nothing Hamid can fix. Their head rests on the inside of Azu’s shoulder and she feels them shake, so she wraps her arms around them tighter.

Once they’ve calmed down enough she pulls back but still keeps a hold of them by the shoulders.

“Do you remember what you told me? That night I took the mega juice?” Azu begins.

Cel looks as if they try to recall the memory but they sheepishly shake their head no. “You said it’s good to see people continue to be lovely and caring during points of great stress and confusion,” she states.

“Yeah, but I was talking about  _ you _ ,” they say, “I-I didn’t and I haven’t been that way but  _ you _ -”

“You saved us Cel, and I don’t mean just tonight,” she says.

Silence falls around them again as Azu examines their face. She can’t tell if anything she said actually lands but she tried, and that’s all, she knows, she’s ever asked to do.

She stands and reaches out her hand. Cel looks up at it and with only a slight hesitation grabs it.

Azu pulls them up and squeezes their hand. “Let’s get back to the others, yes?” she says.

“I-yes. Thank you, Azu,” they say. It’s silent most of the way back but as they get to the tree line, Cel stops her, “I did mean what I said back then, Azu,” they whisper, “You’re the most caring person I know.”

Azu doesn’t expect that so she doesn’t know how to respond. She just smiles and squeezes Cel’s hand that she still holds and gives a nod of gratitude.

They make their way back to the others and now the four of them sit all huddled into each other by the fire. She lets the warmth of it fill up her chest.

**Author's Note:**

> :bangs fist on table: Azu week Azu week Azu week !!!!!
> 
> hope you enjoyed :D


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